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How-To Geek

Windows Home Server is easy to setup and use so anyone with basic computer knowledge can operate their own server. But what if you’re an advanced user and want more control over various administrative functions? The Advanced Admin Console Addin gives you exactly that.

Windows Home Server is definitely easy to use – even for the beginning computer geek. One thing they do though, is hide advanced server functions as a way to protect the end user from messing with the wrong thing. Advanced Admin Console is meant for those of us who want an easy way to access the advanced server features and utilities. It gives easy access to controls that are otherwise hidden deep in the server menus, right from the WHS Console, from any computer on the network.

Note: This addin is meant for advanced users who are familiar with server administration. If you start changing the wrong settings you might crash your server. Also we need to let you know it’s in beta but is in constant development.

Advanced Admin Console

Browse to your shared folders on the server and open the Add-Ins folder and copy the WHSAdminInstaller.msi installer (link below).

Next open WHS Console and click Settings then Add-ins and under Available Add-ins click the available tab. You’ll see the Advanced Admin Console AddIn that we just copied to the Add-Ins folder and click Install.

Then the Installation Succeeded screen will pop up telling you WHS Console will be closed and restarted.

After you’re done with installation, open up the Windows Home Server console and at the top, you’ll notice the Advanced Admin Console button. This gives you access to all of the advanced server functions right from the WHS Console on any machine. Now you won’t need to RDP into the server to do administrative tasks.

Here we take a look at the control panel view in the WHS Console under Advanced Admin Controls. You can easily start accessing different aspects of the server. For instance in this shot we pulled up the Firewall and can begin applying changes.

There will be a series of buttons on the toolbar under the main buttons in the Console.

The following are the locations available…

Control Panel

Printers and Faxes

Administrative Tools

Start Menu

My Computer

Recycle Bin

My Network Places

Network Connections

Show Desktop

Search

Command Prompt

Windows PowerShell

Task Manager

Registry Editor

Some of them are listed in the dropdown menu on the right of the toolbar.

You can right-click an open area and select how you want to view and arrange the icons from the context menu. Also you have all of your standard choices that you’d normally have if you were actually on the server.

Access to the server Registry…

An awesome Show Desktop feature that brings you to the server’s desktop so you can easily navigate within the server if you need to.

Here is a look at all of the Administrative Tools with Event Viewer currently pulled up.

Click on the Customize shortcut from the dropdown menu…

And here you can customize what feature shortcuts are displayed, and you can even add your own shortcut if you feel something is missing.

This awesome Addin makes it exceptionally easy to access your server’s advanced controls and functions from any computer on your network. If you’re an advanced computer geek who knows there way around Server 2003, this is a must have Addin that you’ll probably install right away.

Comments (1)

I,m an EX475 owner patiently waiting to order the v.3 update this week. I’ve upgraded the RAM to 2GBs and need to get into the server C Drive to reset the virtual memory. I have Win 7 Home Premium HP laptops which can’t access Remote Desktop. No plans to activeate Remote Access through my Verizon Actiontec Router – (Don”t ask!). Questions? Will the Advanced Admin Control v 0.5.0 get me there to change the VM settings? If yes, what should I set the Min & Max settings to? I’m not a power user or Geek certified. I’m just trying to complete my home network media distribution from the server. If it works, I promis to uninstall the Add-in immediately. No registry peeking …Nada!

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